ADPD – The Green Party on Sunday called on the government to immediately recognise Palestine as a state and to use every international occasion to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.

In a statement, the party said that the Maltese Government, on Palestine, says one thing and does another.

“While it occasionally speaks in favour of Palestine and the Palestinians, in these recent days, when it had the opportunity to take concrete action in favour of the Palestinians who are being starved to death by the Israeli Government, it did nothing. It has not even allowed a ship with supplies for Gaza, which was attacked by drones near Malta, to enter Maltese territorial waters,” the party noted.

The party is referring to an incident where a Freedom Flotilla vessel was allegedly bombed by two drones just outside Maltese territorial waters.  The ship was set to try and break the Gaza blockade to bring in much-needed humanitarian supplies.  It remains adrift outside Maltese territorial waters.

“It is unacceptable that those who are challenging the atrocious blockade of Gaza are left without assistance. It is unacceptable for the government to turn a blind eye to the oppression and genocide of Palestinians, both in Gaza and the West Bank. Several United Nations agencies have made it clear that the actions of the extremist and racist Israeli government bear all the hallmarks of genocide, including systematic killing, destruction, and theft of Palestinian land,” ADPD said.

The Chairperson of ADPD – The Green Party, Sandra Gauci, said that the Maltese Government must immediately “recognize the State of Palestine as a democratic and sovereign state.”

“Malta should take it as its mission to promote recognition of the Palestinian state among other EU member states, in collaboration with those states that have already recognized Palestine as a sovereign state. Together with other European countries, Malta should promote and support democratic forces in Palestine,” she said.

“The Maltese Government must also clearly demand, at every international occasion and in multilateral forums, a ceasefire in Palestine, the release of hostages held by Hamas, the provision of humanitarian aid, and that Israel stop using starvation as a weapon against the Palestinian population. The Maltese Government should also demand a ceasefire in Lebanon and full respect for international law. Will the Maltese Government call for EU solidarity in light of the fact that Israel carried out an attack in waters near an EU member state? Will it demand guarantees for the safety of Malta and ships belonging to humanitarian organizations? Apparently, we are left waiting,” she added.

Ralph Cassar, Secretary General of ADPD – The Green Party, said that Malta must be clear on the issue of Palestine to be credible on the international stage. Instead, the government says one thing and does another.

“We must support the Arab Plan for the reconstruction and governance of Gaza. We must condemn all forms of displacement of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank. We must also insist with the EU to immediately suspend all arms supplies or sales authorizations to Israel by EU member states. The EU must not be complicit in the oppression. We must support the immediate imposition of sanctions against the Israeli Government for its systematic violations of international law.”

The party called on Foreign Minister Ian Borg to ensure that Malta is among the first to demand the suspension of the EU-Israel agreement and for the enforcement of arrest warrants issued by the International Court of Justice against Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister Gallant.

“In light of the condemnable and immoral actions of the far-right in some EU countries as well as in the United States, we must uphold, both in Europe and internationally, the legitimacy of the International Court of Justice,” it said.

“Ultimately, after the attack near Malta — the first missile or other armament attack (this time via drones) on a humanitarian supply ship at Hurd's Bank since World War II — if the Maltese Government is truly worthy of being a government of a sovereign country, it must call for immediate EU action against Israel to ensure that international law is upheld. It is shameful how both the Maltese Government and the European Commission have remained silent about Israel’s threat to our security.”